ArticleNature communications2025
The mutational landscape of Staphylococcus aureus during colonisation.
Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- In Host Mutational Adaptation of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Complex Strains During Tuberculosis Infection.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2026Pooled it
- A comprehensive review of regulatory mechanisms of novel enterotoxin genes inAnnals of medicine · 2026Review
- Network-based bioinformatics for the prediction of candidate SNPs in Staphylococcus aureus virulence and resistance genes.Folia microbiologica · 2026Article
- Patterns, Associated Factors, and Anatomical Concordance of Nasal and ThroatMicroorganisms · 2026Article
- Genomics reveal Staphylococcus aureus persists during long-term urinary catheterization despite antimicrobial therapy and catheter exchanges.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Copper Single-Atoms Loaded on Molybdenum Disulphide Drive Bacterial Cuproptosis-Like Death and Interrupt Drug-Resistance Compensation Pathways.Nano-micro letters · 2026Article
- Sex-Specific Associations Between Smokeless Tobacco Use andTobacco use insights · 2026Article
- Base excision repair inFrontiers in microbiology · 2026Review
- Large-scale characterisation of the nasal microbiome redefines Staphylococcus aureus colonisation status.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Evolutionary hotspots in bacterial genomes.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2025Article
- Genomic characterization of a multidrug-resistantFrontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Staphylococcus aureus is an important human pathogen and a commensal of the human nose and skin. Survival and persistence during colonisation are likely major drivers of S. aureus evolution. Here we applied a genome-wide mutation enrichment approach to a genomic dataset of 3060 S. aureus colonization isolates from 791 individuals. Despite limited within-host genetic diversity, we observed an excess of protein-altering mutations in metabolic genes, in regulators of quorum-sensing (agrA and agrC) and in known antibiotic targets (fusA, pbp2, dfrA and ileS). We demonstrated the phenotypic effect of multiple adaptive mutations in vitro, including changes in haemolytic activity, antibiotic susceptibility, and metabolite utilisation. Nitrogen metabolism showed the strongest evidence of adaptation, with the assimilatory nitrite reductase (nasD) and urease (ureG) showing the highest mutational enrichment. We identified a nasD natural mutant with enhanced growth under urea as the sole nitrogen source. Inclusion of 4090 additional isolate genomes from 731 individuals revealed eight more genes including sasA/sraP, darA/pstA, and rsbU with signals of adaptive variation that warrant further characterisation. Our study provides a comprehensive picture of the heterogeneity of S. aureus adaptive changes during colonisation, and a robust methodological approach applicable to study in host adaptive evolution in other bacterial pathogens.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.